'á léigheamh as:
Holmer, Nils M.: 1942.The Irish language in Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim. Todd Lecture Series, 18. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy.
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One should distinguish between “Old Gaelic/Irish hiatus” (loss of *w, *j, *s) and “Modern Gaelic hiatus” (loss of 'bh, dh, gh, th');
Old Gaelic/Irish hiatus resulted from the inter-vocalic loss of (at least) three Proto-Celtic sounds;
*w,
*j (Eng. “y”), and
single s (after becoming *h); Modern Gaelic 's' (which I would spell 'ss'…) usually derives from Proto-Celtic *st, *-ss, or *dt (*widtus, became *βissuh, became Old Gaelic ‘fiss’, Modern ‘fios’ [ɸʲɪs̻͆] “knowledge”, compare Latin ‘videō’ ‘I see’ (cf. vision, English ‘wit, wise, wizard’)
Mar shampla;
Proto-Celtic *[ˈwesaːkos] (compare Welsh “gwyach” (from *wesakkos) = Eng. “grebe (bird)”
Ancient Gaelic: *[ˈβʲe(h)axah]
Ancient Gaelic, around AD 500: *[hβ̥ʲɪ.ɑx] (note Ancient Gaelic short vowels regularly raised/mouth-narrowed before a hiatus, e.g. [ɛ.ɑ] became [ɪ.ɑ])
Old Gaelic/Irish, about AD 600: ‘fiach’ [ɸʲɪ.ɑx] “raven”, usually spelt 'fiäch' in modern Old Irish scholarship, but I prefer (and recommend you…) to represent hiatus with ’ in the place of the lost consonant, ‘fi’ach’ rather than ‘fiäch’).
Old Gaelic hiatus survives in Scotland but was lost in Ireland (except Rathlin, and at least nearby parts of coastal Antrim) near the end of the Old Gaelic period, around 900.
In modern Gaelic dialects in Rathlin and Scotland, “new” hiatus has arisen from the loss of intervocalic (=between vowels) fricatives;
bh = |β| (broad or slender),
dh = |ð| becoming |ɣ| (around 1200~1300)
gh = |ɣ|
th = |θ̣| becoming |h|
I san liosta-seo ‘ leanas d’ fhocail a bhfeil “méanughudh” iontu i gCo. Aontroma, úsáidim an litriughudh Clasaiceach, ar féidir le gach canmhain(t) a fhuaimniughudh féin a bhoin(t) as, de ghnáth (mura b’ionann agus an Caighdeán Oifigiúil), ach úas-chamóg (‘) mar chomhartha oir “mhéanughudh” ‘ bha ‘sa tSean-Ghaedhilg (agus ní “dh/gh/th” neamh-staireamhail mar ‘ úsáidtear in Albain fa láthair);
In the following list of words containing hiatus in Co. Antrim, I use the Classical spelling, from which all modern dialect pronunciations can usually be derived (unlike the Caighdeán Oifigiúil), except for an apostrophe (‘) to symbolise a hiatus that existed in Old Gaelic (and not an unetymological ‘dh/gh/th’ as is currently used in Scotland);
a-(fh)ri’is(t) = ‘again’ (Old Gaelic “a fhrithissi”, CO “arís”, Scottish “a-rithist”)
bhi’adh [βʲi.əg] ‘would be’ (or ‘used to be’?)
bleoghan [blʲo.ən] “milking”, CO 'bleán' (Old Gaelic 'blegan' from 'mlegan' "milking")
cá’óg [khɑ.ɑg] (in other dialects cá’óg became cáóg became cág) “jackdaw”
cla(dh?)acht [khlˠɛ̈.ɑxt͆] “digging”
crá’adh [kr̥a.əɡ] ‘tormenting’ (CO ‘crá’)
cru’a [kr̥ɯ.ə] (CO “crú”) “horse-shoe”
dó’adh /dɔː.əg/ (CO “dó”). Spellings with intervocalic dódh- and (better?) dógh- are un-etymological.
fa’ast [ɸɑ.ɑs͆t͆] (CO ‘fós’) adverb ‘still’
faghá(i?)l [ɸɑ.ɑl] (CO ‘fáil’) ‘getting’
fi’ach [ɸʲɪ.ɑx] agus [ɸʲɪ.əx] “raven” (compare one-syllable ‘fiach’ = ‘a debt’)
gnoithe [grɔ.ɪ] ‘business’
lá’a /l͆ˠa.ə/ “day” (Old Gaelic “láa” /l͆ˠɑ.ɑ/, Caighdeán Oifigiúil ‘lá’)
liugha [lʲɯ.ə] “a lithe (fish)”, compare CO ‘liús’ = ‘a luce, pike (fish’
mná’an ‘women’ (CO “mná”)
nigheanan [nʲɪ.ənən] (from Classical plural ‘ingheana’, became ‘inigheana’, became Rathlin _’nigheana(+n)_. CO “iníon, pl. iníonacha” = daughters
práidhinn [pr̥ɑ.ɪ̈n(ʲ)] (CO ‘práinn’)
ru(dh?)a [rɯ.ə] “a point” (hypothetically CO mis-spelling “rú”)
sci’an [skʲɪ.ən] ‘knife’
sci’ist [skʲɪ.ɪ̈ɕtʲ] = (noun) ‘rest’
ubhall /ʊβwʊ̈L̪ː/ (Old Gaelic 'ubull, uball', CO “úll”), craobhan ubhallan [krˠɛ̈βən ɯ.ələn] “apple trees”